British player Jack Draper commented on the prospects of young Brazilian tennis player João Fonseca after defeating him in the third round of Roland Garros with a score of 6/2, 6/4, 6/2.
“It`s amazing that he`s only 18,” Draper said. “I`m 23, and when I think about everything I`ve learned and improved in just one year… And he`s already close to the Top 50 and doing incredible things. Matches like the one we just played will greatly help him grow. I think he just needs time, but looking at how he`s playing now, it`s a little scary what he might achieve.
Obviously, he still has room to grow physically. Competing with Top 100 players and beating them in three sets is very difficult, especially when you have almost no experience at that level. He needs to go through this stage of development. The key to my comfortable wins in our two matches was that I withstood his pressure, and he felt he needed to do more. And that`s when you see that he`s still young and not physically fully ready for such efforts. Everything he does from now on will be adding to his game.”
Draper also discussed his own performance in the third round of the clay court major in Paris.
“I am very happy with my level of play and consistency,” Draper stated. “Closing out the second set the way I did was important; beating such a promising player is very good for me. I realized I had some physical issues maintaining intensity in long rallies and moving forward, so I used drop shots whenever I could step into the court after powerful shots deep. I never practice drop shots, but it`s a natural shot that I believe is very useful in different situations, for example, when approaching the net after a serve. I feel very comfortable on clay and have gained a lot of confidence,” Draper added during his press conference at Roland Garros.
In the fourth round of the tournament, Jack Draper is scheduled to play against Kazakhstan`s Alexander Bublik on June 2.
Rupert Hartwell